England, perennial revisionists in one-day international cricket, have made such a habit of dealing in new eras it can often seem like a case of out with the new, in with the very slightly newer. The search for a grand plan, both tactical and personnel-related, has become such a seasonal ritual that it was almost a shock to hear Steve Finn referring this week to a group of players the management have already identified as the long-term basis of a team for the 2015 World Cup.

This is a process not to be taken too literally: three years is half a lifetime in international sport and with England cricket teams, only the wilfully reckless would predict anything beyond the next six weeks. But it was a theme of targeted reinvention picked up again by Eoin Morgan before Tuesday's final match in the Mobilink Jazz Cup one-day series.

"We're starting from scratch," Morgan said after England practice at the Dubai Cricket Stadium. "Where we are is six in the world and where we want to be is No1 in the world by the World Cup in 2015."

Something is certainly stirring in this one day set-up. Morgan's own appearance at No3 in the last match raised one or two eyebrows given Jonathan Trott's lack of any real time at the wicket in the series. The word from the captain, Alastair Cook, was that this was a matter of keeping a left-hand right-hand combination, as Morgan restated: "I've had my pads on to bat at three for the first three games because we like the right-hand left-hand combination, especially when there's two spinners on."

This is a new direction at the top of the order and one that, significantly, Morgan seemed to suggest could even lead to him emerging at No3 against the new ball. He said: "Potentially. I think the fact we've got off to good starts as well has helped and everything's eased out. That's the part of my game where I come in and move it on and my strengths come into play."

It is tempting to wonder where all this atypical flexibility leaves Trott, a player rigidly typecast at No3. There is no real case yet to question the one-day future of the ICC player of the year, England's highest averaging ODI batsman of all time. But Trott will be 34 when the next World Cup comes along and this time forward planning really does seem to be key. Certainly the notion that England have settled on a chosen mini-pool of younger players is sensible, given the rapidity with which the cycle of World Cup preparation ebbs away and given the mob-handed roster of England Performance Squads and their many sub-sets (this week Ajmal Shahzad is in Dubai as part of something called the Back to Bowling Programme; it is to be hoped he was eased in gently, perhaps via a Back To The Back To Bowling Programme Programme).

It is possible the sifting of this periphery may start in the final match on Tuesday. The most likely changes are in the bowlers. Tim Bresnan and Jade Dernbach may return to the team in place of James Anderson and Stuart Broad. There is even a chance Danny Briggs, highly rated by the management, may get a go with Graeme Swann rested.

In the batting Jos Buttler has looked good in the nets but is likely to be saved for the Twenty20s. Jonny Bairstow put in an extended wicket-keeping practice on Monday but Craig Kieswetter is probably safe for now.

Beyond this the reserve opener here, the willowy and explosive Alex Hales, is part of that roster of younger players with a chance to stake a claim. Chief among these still is Ben Stokes, currently injured but a genuine muscular talent with the bat and a useful medium-pace bowler. Of the performance squad the right-handed dasher Jason Roy, a star of the Bangladesh Premier League with the Chittagong Kings, has the potential to thrill.

Briggs will have to contend with the emergence of Simon Kerrigan and, as a dark horse, the left-arm pace bowler Matthew Dunn of Surrey, currently on the ECB list headed Potential England Performance Squad Players, could yet make rapid strides.